Fireworks usage is legal at only one place and only on one day in Federal Way.

That’s when the city-sponsored fireworks display takes place during the Red, White and Blues Festival on July 4 in Celebration Park. Any other usage is illegal. Period.

Yet many neighborhoods experience the racket of illegal fireworks at the end of June and into July. That’s malicious and dangerous, especially with the unseasonably dry weather we had in May and much of June.

Fireworks cause injuries. Fireworks start fires, especially the flaming rockets that land on roofs or in trees. Their noise disturbs sleep, frightens animals, and adds to the already heightened anxiety of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. There’s nothing patriotic about such neighborhood disruptions.

Federal Way police and South King Fire and Rescue will have emphasis patrols throughout neighborhoods and will issue citations to violators of the city’s fireworks ordinance. Confiscation, fines and possible jail time could also be involved.

Let the professionals handle and ignite the spectacular display July 4 in Celebration Park. Be a good neighbor. Don’t shoot off fireworks of any kind. It’s a matter of safety. Yours and mine.

H. David Kaplan, Federal Way